Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-06-24
A REAL DIME NOVEL.
The Most Successful Train Robbery
that has Been Committed in
Texas for Years.
Il Occurs in Fayette County, q Few
Miles East OF FlatOni8, on the
southern Pacific Railway.
Vhe Express and Mail Cars and Nearly
Every Passenger Acknowledgement
Persons Badly Beaten,
AN EXPRESS TRAIN ROBBED.


the most thorough and accomplished
pieces Of tram robbery most ever perps-
trsted in this part OF Texas was that
Yhsch occurred one mile east OF Flatonia
on tee Sunset route between l and .
O'Clock this morning. The train held UP
wSs the east bound train No. 10 which
left this city at $500 last evening. The
Journey was without incident until Fla
tOnia, about sixty miles from San An
tonic was reached, which is in FlatOnia
county. At this point seven men boarded
the train as passengers and as it pulled
out tzro o5 the men went forward and
clsmbering over the tender threw their
pistols down on the engineer and fireman
and told them TO do IS they
were told and they would not be hurt
When few miles from the station the
train was stopped for business. Then
the actual work Of the robbery began.
Frank FOlgeT, the Young express mes.
senger for he Wells Fargo Express Con-
0suv, seeing their movements, threw
away the KEYS TO his safe, and no sooner
mad ne done this than two stalwart Job
pers confronted MIN with the demand to
omen up. FOlger hesitated, and told
chem he ala not have mis- key. They
dubbed him over the head, out he was
-c'p.ess, and they felled MIN to the floor
ana cruelty split mis- ears with pocket
lnlfe They then went through me SAFE
sud secured ABOUT $4,000 belonging To the
Wells Fargo Company. While this was
going on the other robbers busted them
selves going through the passengers,
sighting no one, even rob
ging the news butcher Of S..
one old gentleman sleeping II his berth
was awakened and, reaching under mis-
pillow for his valu2bles, was struck
senseiess By pistol in the hands OF a
rObber. The rOb0er then searched under
the pillow and found q neat roll Of bills
amounting 10 5I0G, with q watch and
some diamonds proba0ly w0ltl $500
more All The passengers were gone
through IS easily, most Of them kindly
getting their vsIuables OUT To prevent
any Inconvenience to he robbers. One
Young lady was struck on the head
for being slow. Mr. Heb nthaI Of This
city was relieved Of $3.50 IN cash. The
robbers were very cool and determined
D their work, snd delayed the train
more thEn an hour. When they
mad finished they mounted their
horses N waiting near by and galloped
Of. The train proceeded to the next
station, where the wounded eXpressman
and passengers We're given medic2! stteE-
-iOn Conductor Lyon, in charge OF he
train, says the captain of the gang had no
MASK and was called Dick by his COM
nani0ns. He also describes their clothing
gad personal appearance Of the three who
lid their work in the coaches SO that
here viii be no trouble in identifying
them when caught SheTifS and deputies
arl now out in ali directions with strong
1GDes of making capture, Railroad
officials here are of the opinion that the
men engaged in the work here sTe the
same that did similar robbery near
austin and also in North Texas.
FROM FLATONIA.
special TO the Gazette.
FLAToNIA, Ten, June I8.-Tne cast
bound Southern Pacific express train due
lere at I2:3j c. m. was robbed last night
about one mile east of here at the bridge
81 Mu,burv creek. From ali that can be
learned there were seven men in the gang,
4uG, Judging from the manner in which
1ey performed; they were old hands at
thl business 1t is believed that when
'1. train pulled out from here one of the
-Obbers, stationed here for that purpose,
mounted the blind end Of the express
ear, and when the bridge was reached
.rgwled over the tender and covered the
engineer and ordered him 10 stop the
rain This being done, the rest OF the
gang, who were concealed il the brush,
emerged from their hiding place and pro-
,eeded TO rob the express Car. They or
jered the messenger 70 open the safe.
which ne positively refused 10 do, saying
ne would die first. The robbers beat
7.m over the head most numerically
with their pistols TO make hlm open up
on. he would not do it, and seeing that
tatir efforts were fruitlesS, they took
what money thew could get holdlof which,
was about $500, that was rot IN
re safe They proceeded TO go through
the trsin and roo the passengers. 1t Is
currently reported on the streets that
hey got 500 from one man. They
made & clean sweep except the ladies. 1t
5 impossible 10 ascertain the exact
amount Of the haul. No one here was
Swage of the ROBBERY until The arrival OF
ne west bound train st3:20 y. N. As
soon as the news was received COneta-
BE Sloan OF this place and Ham Of
Waelder went out with small posse to the
scene Of the robbery, but owing 10 the
length CT time that had elapsed the rob-
AsrS no douht were many miles away.
The posse returned about O'Clock this
morning and reported that they found
where the robbers had tied their horses,
md also where they had cut the fence on
70th sides of the railroad. The tracks
seem to scatter in every direction, so that
Il is impossible without the aid CT blood
- -, Shari e
arrived from Is Grange about ! O'Clock,
and with g posse IS securing the country
IN every direction.
a TALK WITH THE TRAINMEN.
Special 20 the Gazette.
FLAToNIA, TEX, June IS.-Among the
arrivals on the West-bound passenger
train this evening was Conductor Lyons,
Engineer Ben PickeTn and the express
messenger # lest nights il-fsted tram;
also Dir. Bailey, one Of the passengers
mat was robbed, Engineer PickerD, in
with your correspondent,
stated thGv ne lrst lnGmaJion nc had q
anything vroGg was when they pulled
out from the S,stion two men mounted
his engine, with cooked reviewers, end
told him to keep the train running till
they said stop, and that when about one
nile east Of here they gave the
order 10 stop. He says they
were IN & very good hum0r, but cool sid
determined.
The messenger says that they treateG
aim very roughly, beating him over tie
head with their pistols and nearly cutting
OF one of his ears. He thinks sll were
green hands except the leader WAC seem
ed TO understand his business pretty
well. Sheriff Seapp of this county and
also Sheriff Townsend of Colorado are
here and are making every effort in their
power to get some clue to the perpetra-